Silverwaters

I fought the reflex to cringe as I saw a cockroach run across the table in a room with 10 hospital beds filled with old women. I concentrated on the woman’s face, not her surroundings as she showed us the beautiful doilies she was knitting in order to make a little bit of money to pay for medicines that were not available in this home for the elderly. Her right hand was no longer nimble because of arthritis, so she taught herself to knit with her left hand. My doctor friend and I bought two of her doilies, gave her a hug and moved on to the next room.

Our doctor friend, Verica, had invited me to visit a home for elderly Bosnian refugees. I had been shocked to hear that there still are Bosnian refugees here, as we had been told, that, when the refugee camps here closed down, everyone was either brought back home or to other camps in different parts of Croatia. We had no idea that these people were literally stuck here, most without any legal papers, just basically waiting to die.

My friend tried to prepare me for the squalid conditions there, but still, I was not prepared for what I saw. On the first floor of this old building were the four rooms with patients that were pretty much bedridden. Each room had ten hospital beds, most of them filled with old, sad patients. The smell was stuffy and musty, the walls cracked and peeling paint. Tears sprung to my eyes as the old women told me that no one ever came to visit them. Some had families elsewhere, but were not able or willing to make the trip here. Others simply stated, “I have no one.”

As I walked from room to room, visiting the bedridden and then those that are able to get up and about, several people asked to have their photo taken. I’m not sure why, maybe just as a way of asking me not to forget about them, too. As we sat for coffee with the head nurse and others of the staff, we were told what their most immediate needs are, among others, sheets, bedding, and diapers for the bedridden. We had brought 200 pieces of clothing that we had received from beneficiaries around here. They were especially thankful for the warm sweaters, coats and other needed winter clothes. We arranged to come back with a show for the whole home, as we are getting our Christmas program into full gear. The home they are now staying in does not meet their needs properly, so they will be moving into a new house built by the government.

As I left that dreary place that day, my mind churned with ideas of how to best supply the need these old people seem to have least—love. When I got home, the girls eagerly agreed that they should help too, and we will be considering ways to be able to visit more.

Have had to get ready for another week away from home. We are going down to Zagreb again for a week to practice for a big (1000+) show. The kids will hopefully dance and/or sing…we’ll see when we get there. I’m trying my best to wrap things up, but will take the computer along to keep up with home related work. Don’t know how much online time I’ll have though, so if you don’t hear from me, don’t worry, I’ll keep you posted as soon as I get back.

Took Cherise and Jordan to the dermatologist today. They are both really dry and scaly, with red spots in parts. She told me to bathe them with olive oil in the water, and keep them well greased during this cold season. It doesn’t look like any kind of food allergy, which I’m thankful for.

K, gotta run, still have some packing to do.

So, seeing as it’s the first Advent today, we followed our tradition of taking out the Christmas decorations and starting to decorate the house. I was worried that a lot would be ruined because of the mold problem in our basement, but thankfully, after a little airing out, it looks like most survived. The girls had great fun setting things up, lining up projects to do over the next weeks, and figuring out the lights. Actually, this is the first year I actually had the patience to sit there and try out every single bulb until I found the ones that were broken. We now have two long working strings–still need to check on the outdoor ones, but I don’t think they survived the summer. I like the way the house gets to look real pretty after a couple hours of flitting around with tinsel, candles, cotton, and all that fun stuff. Charlotte announced gleefully before dinner, “I’ve got Chritsmas in my bones.” Well, she certainly is not the only one!

Well, brace yourselves, because this will be long. It’s funny for me to say that so much has been happening, but at the same time, I didn’t write—not because of a lack of things to write, but simply because my one-on-one time with the computer didn’t happen much.

So, here’s the news:
Leila (my sis) came to visit for a few days.
Jordan broke in his two last eyeteeth.
It’s been snowing for three days.
Charlotte finished another schoolbook with flying colors.
We got a hall for a big show for up to 500 people!

Leila’s visit was lots of fun for us. It’s been almost two years since I last saw her, and was missing my lil sis. We had time to catch up on news, and she had loads of time with the girls. They wanted to show her everything they had learned, do projects, play games, etc. We went out a couple of times, as she wanted to see town again, what had changed, as well as meet an old friend. We were very sad to see her leave again. I certainly hope that it won’t be that long till we see each other again!

Jordan’s teething is far from done. He broke in the two eyeteeth, but still need to comfort nurse at night, as I’m sure the pain is still pretty bad for him.

Yeah, snow, snow, snow. We found out we have to invest more money that we had been planning for new winter tires. Yuck. Oh, well, better safe than sorry. Otherwise, the snow is beautiful, and goes well with my theory that if it has to be cold, there might as well be something fun for the kids (and us!) to do, as well as make it all look so pretty.

Charlotte is making great progress with her school. She’s excited about starting 2nd grade soon; we just need to get the rest of the money together to order it. Cherise has taken to writing her name as tiny as she can, but still be neat. It’s so cute! Jordan has taken to his flashcards and mathdots at last, and actually likes doing them again. He tries really hard with the potty thing, but usually doesn’t remember unless I do.

Our Christmas is getting busier all the time. We got the use of the big cultural center for a program—a combination of benefit concert and program for many of the underprivileged children we’ve helped over the years. Those will be sponsored, and the proceeds will go towards our work. We are looking for help with this, as we need a band/dance group to pull off the big chunk of the show. Your prayers are appreciated! We would like to get stands in some shopping centers again this year, as we made a new card again, and it was a good way for people to meet us. Please pray with us that all this will work out. It’s a big bite for three people.

K, this is long already. Happy Thanksgiving, all!

Spent the whole day out…was very good, got to meet old friends and witness. We have friends who like to see me from time to time, simply because their German is better, so I have a good reason to visit. We just made a list of donors who we would like to become honorary members of our NGO here, and the one person we presented it to today was very touched. A couple of big companies are ordering Christmas cards, CD cards, Activated mags, etc. So it’ll be busy for us in the weeks to come…goodie!

The only downside to being out all day: I come home to a messy room(s), and the girls didn’t have school. So catch up tomorrow!

On Saturday, I visited an old folks home for Bosnian refugees that we didn’t even realize existed here! I’m writing my impressions for our newsletter, so when that is done, I’ll post it here.

I can’t believe I didn’t mention this before. Jo got me into taking dance lessons with him on Saturday’s and Sunday’s. It’s traditional dancing, so anyone who knows me can feel free to crack up laughing…I won’t blame you. Because we entered halfway through the course, we got a crash course on three or four different dance steps/styles in the one hour we were there. We did the cha-cha, rumba, English walz, Vienna walz and , lemme see…I think that was it. I was very hesitant to go, aside from the headache, I wasn’t too sure I wanted to be out in public with my two left feet. Jo really wanted to go, so I decided it was worth the experience. It was awkward as we both didn’t know the steps, so at least we were both blundering through it, ha. I had great fun dancing with the instructer, though, great to just let the guy lead…

So, the headache is still around…sometimes…but it’s generally better. Got going with the school week, etc.

Here’s a cute one from the kids:

Charlotte prays: “Jesus, box us around with your protection.” (yeah, she finds the funniest ways to express herself)
Cherise before she even finishes: “Mommy, Charlotte said, Jesus, box us!”

Our website is down, so stay away! Ack, hope we can get it fixed this week still. So frustrating!!!!

In other news, Christmas season is in full gear, we got our CD cards, callendars and they are going out like hotcakes! The girls are doing so well with their practicing–I’m so proud of them! I hope it works out for us to work together with the other home for the shows, so we can have 4-6 kids dancing instead of just 2…it would be so cute!

Ok, I’m rambling, must not have anything to say.

Sorry I haven’t been posting much these days. I’ve had a smashing headache for two days now, though I can’t quite tell what’s causing it. Had an hour nap (!) today, but not much better for it. I decided to give the girls a holiday, as I’m in no condition to concentrate with them, ha. It’s the kind of headache that hurts constantly, but then sometimes gets worse to the point that my eyes water and I have to sit or lie down so that I don’t fall over. Oh, well, please keep me in your prayers. I’d appreciate that.

We got the Croatian CD cards! They are so beautiful, I’m sure we won’t have any trouble getting them all out by C-mas. T’would be nice. The callendars are here, and we will pick them up Monday. YAY! We have back orders that will keep us busy for the first week at least!

The girls are into making ‘movies’ now. It started about a week ago. They practice some ’secret’ story for a few days, and then get us all together in the livingroom for a showing. I am able to film them with our little camera, because they’re not very long. It’s so cute! Cherise is a very good actor (Charlotte, too, of course) and likes to get into the story with props, dress up and all. Today they did ‘Johnny and the Worm’ (officially Cherise’s favorite story–she can quote the whole thing by heart!), and Cherise even cut herself a litte worm out of yarn, made a ‘plate of food’ out of her tea set. It’s adorable to watch!

Charlotte did 100% on her Math test today.

The girls took turns baking on ‘their own’, Charlottle cracking in the eggs, while Cherise helped with pouring in the ingredients. They had lots of fun making cake for breakfast tomorrow and brownies for snack.

We finished practicing the first song for this Christmas season! They need more practice, of course, but they are doing very well.

Sorry it’s kind of short, I’m busy and sore from workouts.